Two's a Crowd
by ShaeLee99
Summary: A new twist on an old story. OC. Rating may change.
1. Initial Possession

**Hey, all. So, this is my first Hikaru no Go fanfic, so please be gentle. I love constructive criticism, but nicely please.**

**WARNING! THIS STORY HAS A VERY PROMINENT OC! TURN BACK NOW IF YOU HATE OC'S!**

* * *

The air in the antique store was thick with dust.

Nikai-Shae wrinkled his nose with distaste. Honestly, this place looked like it was on its last leg. From the shabby carpet, to the poor lighting, to the old man behind the counter who glared at him as he walked in, it was no wonder the sign out front said, "_CLOSING SOON. ALL ITEMS 75% OFF._" Normally, Nikai wouldn't even bother coming to a place like this, but 75% was a hefty discount. If he was lucky, he might find a couple of old screens or cabinets that he could decorate and sell in his shop. If he was _really_ lucky, he might find a musical instrument.

Nikai headed further inside, carefully maneuvering through the cluttered aisles. Everywhere he looked, merchandise was stacked haphazardly. One pile of old books leaned dangerously to the side, uncaring of the customers it could potentially bury if it toppled over. Old dolls shared shelf space with chipped vases and dusty figurines. Nikai paused to consider an abacus. He'd never redecorated one before, and he didn't know who the hell would ever _buy_ it, but maybe...He was just reaching out to touch it when he caught sight of what the abacus was sitting on.

A glimmer of hope speared through his chest. It looked to be a tiny, sturdy wooden table with a grid across the top. _This_ he could work with, he thought, placing the abacus to the side and gently running his hand through the dust gathered on the surface. Underneath the dust, the wood gleamed warmly. It was a light wood. Birch, maybe? Or oak...Nikai ran his hands over the edges, testing for any obvious nicks or chunks missing. The wood seemed to be in good condition, but there was a dark stain extending from one corner almost to the middle of the board. He peered closely at it. "I wonder if this is ink," he murmured, tracing his finger along the edge. From the looks of the shop, he wouldn't have been surprised if someone had spilled ink on it. "Oh, well," he continued, a bit more cheerfully. "A good coat of paint will cover that stain right up."

_Can you see it?_

Nikai jumped, whirling around to face the employee who'd snuck up on him...only there was no one there. He narrowed his eyes. "It's rude to sneak up on people," he called, certain that whomever had spoken to him was trying to give him a scare...that old man probably got off on scaring the customers...

_Can you...can you hear me?_

"Yeah, I hear you," Nikai snapped. "Either come out or leave me alone. I'm not in the mood to deal with rude old men."

_You can hear me! Oh, great Kami, I thank you!_

Nikai stepped forward, intent on finding the owner of that voice. A faint light at the corner of his vision made him pause, and he whipped his head around, ready to tear them a new one. What he saw, instead, forced his muscles to lock in place in shock.

An androgynous man with long, long dark hair stood before him, directly over the old table Nikai had been examining. He was dressed in traditional Japanese garments, white, with a tall hat. He wore purple lipstick, but more than that...he was vaguely transparent.

"What the..." Nikai began, breathily, just as the odd man called out.

_I will now return...to the world of the living._

And the world went dark.

* * *

Fujiwara no Sai stared down at the soul he now haunted with obvious concern. The child (_boy or girl? and how old? they looked fairly young..._) had slumped down in a dead faint, just like Torajiro had, all those years ago. He supposed he should have expected it. Torajiro had once told him that the initial possession had been horrible, that Sai's consciousness had forced itself into his psyche, like a rushing river of foreign memory and emotion as Sai's soul had attached to his.

Ignoring the ache he felt at the thought of his old friend, Sai leaned in close to study his new host. It was nearly impossible for him to tell whether the child was a boy or girl, thanks to the odd hair and manner of dress. The hair was about shoulder-blade length, and was dyed in a rainbow of colors. Red, pink, gold, orange, fuschia, copper, it spilled across their face like the sunrise personified. The face was pale, with straight, thin, dark brows and long eyelashes. The ear that wasn't hidden by hair was full of odd earrings, and there was a ring in both corners of their lower lip, as well...The child (_does not look very old, at all_) seemed slender, willowy, and of average height. Colorful tattoos raced up both arms, flowers and seemingly random streaks of color and foreign words that were hard for him to make sense of.

In all, his new host looked...interesting. And they had been examining the kaya board for a while before they'd mentioned the stains...maybe they were a Go fan? He certainly hoped so. The gods couldn't possibly be so cruel as to place him with someone who hated Go, no matter how unorthodox they appeared. He still didn't understand what they had meant when they'd murmured about painting over the stains. He couldn't possibly allow that; how else would he know who would be able to see him? Ah, well. He would convince the sleeping (_unconscious_) child to leave the goban be.

That decided, Sai tapped his fan carefully against his lips as he regarded the space they were in. It was filthy, to say the least, and he delicately raised one sleeve to guard his mouth and nose against the dust that permeated the air. He spared a moment to despair for the child laying on that horrible floor; his black clothing would probably be stained gray by the time he woke. There were many shelves, filled with old, often broken artifacts. He began walking through them. He knew from previous experience that he could only go so far from his hosts (_and why should he want to? they were the only ones who could see him, anyways._), but hopefully he would get far enough to discern their whereabouts. He doubted his child would have gone somewhere dangerous-surely they had more sense than that-but it never hurt to check. It was his fault that they had fainted, after all. It would be impolite to allow something to happen to them whilst they were so vulnerable.

In the end, he was jerked to a stop roughly five feet from where the child lay, and all he had managed to ascertain was that they were in some kind of shop. That was good; the child would most certainly be able to take the goban back to their home so long as he had the money for it.

Soul a bit lighter, Sai earnestly began scouring the shelves for anything familiar.

* * *

Nikai woke knowing exactly where he was, and why he had fainted. There was no storybook moment of, _When he woke, he discovered it had all been a dream_, oh, no. Nothing was ever that simple. He levered himself into a semi-upright position, keeping his eyes carefully shut. He could feel threadbare carpet under his hands, so he knew that he was still inside the antique store. Had no one even noticed that he had fainted? He wasn't exactly surprised. Besides the old man at the counter, the shop seemed to be devoid of life. It was certainly devoid of a janitor, at least.

"Excuse me."

Nikai tried really, really hard not to flinch at that quiet musical voice. He had been hoping that he'd imagined that voice, and the pretty (_there really wasn't any other word for it_) man that went with it. Mustering up his courage, he took a deep breath and mumbled a flat "What?"

"May I ask you your name, child?"

Nikai cracked an eye open. The...spirit/ghost/poltergeist/hallucination-of-a-fevered-mind was leaning over him, face open and friendly, expression curious. His eyes were almond-shaped, like most native Japanese people that Nikai had met, though the color was decidedly foreign. Sparkling amethyst orbs regarded him from above a plain white folding fan. "...Nikai-Shae," he said eventually, opening the other eye a bit warily.

The...man...nodded, looking marginally satisfied, before asking hesitantly, "And...your gender?"

Nikai glared half-heartedly. He knew that he was fairly effeminite. "Male," he said shortly. "What the hell are you?" he added a moment later.

"I'm so sorry, I seem to have forgotten my manners." The man offered a bow. "I am Fujiwara no Sai, and until today, my soul has been bound to the goban you were examining."

"What's a goban?"

The man's face went slack with surprise, and then tightened with what looked oddly like disappointment. Nikai's stomach churned uneasily. "It is a board upon which the game Go is played," the man (_Sai_) explained carefully. "Do you know what Go is?"

Nikai looked at him consideringly. He could guess, from the man's clothing, that Go was old. Why else would a man in period dress be interested in it, or have his soul bound to the game board? "No," he offered. "Not a clue."

The look on the man's face was definitely disappointed, no matter how quickly he raised his fan to cover it. "Oh," he replied glumly. He moved back a few steps as Nikai shakily hauled himself to his feet. Sai was a couple of inches taller than he was, even without the hat.

Nikai carefully kept his gaze from straying to the board. "Well, goodbye," he tried, though the sinking feeling in his gut assured him that it was **_not_** going to be that easy.

Sure enough..."Wait!" Sai cried. He sounded panicked, but more than that, Nikai could _feel _his panic. It echoed down to him through some mysterious link, and he suddenly had the feeling that he was _never_ going to get rid of this guy. "Surely you plan to take the goban with you?" the other man implored.

He glanced back to where Sai was hesitating near the board, looking torn between staying with it and following Nikai. "I try not to buy haunted Go boards," he replied flippantly. "Something tells me it's bad for my blood pressure."

The other man's panic eased, and Nikai's heartbeat slowed in response. He hadn't even realized that it had been responding to Sai's panic, racing in his chest, until it started slowing down. "Well, you should certainly buy the board, then," the man said happily, "seeing as it is no longer haunted."

"Wait," Nikai said, trying to fight the dread of a dawning realization. "I thought you said that your soul was bound to the goban. You did say that, right? I _heard_ you. You're still here, so why isn't the goban haunted anymore?"

"I _was _bound to the goban, yes. But now, I am bound to you. I'll follow you everywhere now."

"No," Nikai refuted. "You're gonna stay with the board. I've got enough stress in my life, I can't handle you, too."

A tendril of sadness unfurled down the link. "I must stay with you," Sai murmured. "I am bound. You are the only one who can see me, and I can only go so far from you."

_Fuck._

* * *

**Ta-da. So, just to ease any worries, YES, Hikaru is going to be in the story. I have plans for that boy. Many plans.**

**So, anyway, drop a review and let me know your pairing preferences. I have a tentative idea, but, who knows, you could possibly sway my opinion. Thanks so much for reading!**


	2. No Go

**Second chapter! By the way, my OC's name is pronounced Nik-eye-uh Shay. Just putting that out there, because my sister took one look at that name and very seriously told me that I was going to give my readers a collective anueryism trying to figure out how to say it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hikaru no Go.**

* * *

Walking back to his store from the failed antique outing was an absolute nightmare.

The Go board was a solid, uncomfortable weight in Nikai's arms, and Sai the Ghost trailed behind him, exclaiming over the "marvels of the modern world!" It probably would've been endearing, but the constant cries of shock and awe were beginning to give him a headache, and the ghost's constantly shifting emotions were doing weird things to him. Sai the Ghost's joy bubbled in Nikai's chest, managing somehow to be both separate from him and a part of him. It was disconcerting, even moreso because that happiness was making it hard for him to sulk like he wanted to.

"Nikai-Shae-san!" Sai the Ghost moved to his side. "What are these odd horseless carriages?"

Nikai gave him an unimpressed glance. "They're _cars_," he mumbled shortly. "Don't talk to me, I'll look insane."

Sai the Ghost tilted his head to the side, brow furrowed in confusion. Comprehension seemed to dawn a moment later, because Sai the Ghost straightened up and smiled brightly at him. "You can answer me in your thoughts, Nikai-Shae-san," he said cheerfully. "I'll be able to hear you without it looking like you're talking to yourself."

Nikai glanced at him sharply as they paused at a crosswalk. Was Sai the Ghost saying that he could read his _mind_? There was no way. **Quit calling me Nikai-Shae-san**, he thought, not truly expecting an answer.

"What shall I call you, then?"

The light turned green, but Nikai stood stock still as the other pedestrians surged around him. Sai the Ghost could read his mind. _Sai the Ghost could read his mind!_ Frantically, Nikai searched his memory, desperatly hoping that he hadn't thought anything too embarassing since he'd fainted. A sharp blow to his shoulder snapped him back to reality, and he nearly dropped the Go board in his haste to get across the street.

**How much can you hear, Sai?** he demanded, frowning.

Sai the Ghost laughed. "I only hear what you want me to hear, Nikai-Shae-san," he assured, tapping his fan against his smiling lips. "All your secrets are safe. Now, what do you like to be called?"

**Nikai**, he answered at length. **You can just call me Nikai.**

"Why do the lights change colors, Nikai-san?" Sai the Ghost asked, staring at one of the traffic lights.

_**Just**_** Nikai, Sai**, he ordered. **The lights tell the cars when it's safe to move forward. If you ignore the lights, you could get into a car crash, which could kill you.**

Nikai enjoyed Sai's sudden paleness probably more than he should have.

* * *

Nikai was an odd child, Sai mused as his new host explained about cars and traffic lights, and the gruesome consequences of crashing two or more cars together.

Nikai's perceptive ability was astounding, quite honestly. Whereas Torajiro had only ever felt Sai's strongest emotions (_his deepest sorrow and joy and, very rarely, rage_), Nikai felt _everything_. Emotion bounced between the two of them along the invisible thread of their connection, mostly Sai's, though sometimes the ghost could catch some of what Nikai was feeling as well. However, those brief snatches of clarity did not affect him to nearly the same degree that they affected his host.

His sorrow at the thought of leaving Torajiro's goban behind had actually caused Nikai to become ill in the antique store, and afterwards he had trembled with the force of Sai's concern. That was what had convinced him to actually buy the goban, and though Sai cringed at the unintentional emotional blackmail, he couldn't help but be pleased with the way things were working out. The only thing that could make this better was...

"Nikai?" Sai inquired, cutting off his host's rather...graphic description of what happened to those who didn't wear belts in their seats. The boy hummed a little in response. "When can we play Go?"

Nikai shrugged. **I don't know how to play**, his host responded indifferently.

Sai tapped his fan against his lips. "I could teach you," he offered hopefully.

His host glanced at him critically. **I have no _interest_ in Go**, he clarified, much to Sai's dismay. **And**, he added, **I have a store to run. I can't just be off playing a game all the time. I have to work.**

"Perhaps in your spare time?" Sai could feel his spirits dropping rapidly.

**I have no spare time!** Nikai retorted. **If I'm not at the store, I'm probably sleeping.**

"But you left the store today!" Sai protested. "You came to see the goban! That is how we met!"

**I came to see your goban on an errand _for my store_, which I left in the hands of my assistant.**

"Can't your assistant watch the store while we play Go?" Sai implored.

**Hikaru is many things**, Nikai began, **but highly-competent shop assistant is not one of them. I'll be lucky if I still _have _a store by the time we get back.**

Tears began streaming down Sai's face. Surely the gods could not be so cruel...?

* * *

Shindo Hikaru had seen some weird things in the two weeks he'd been working at Nikai's store.

The shop itself was a little odd; it was an art store that sold not only the usual art supplies like brushes and paint and canvases, but also actual art pieces. Pieces that had been painted (or sketched or crafted) by Nikai himself. Hikaru (who couldn't tell art from spaghetti noodles, according to his boss) supposed they must have been pretty good; they sold well, anyway, which was the most important thing.

The art itself could be a bit unusual, too. Most of them were just things that Nikai had seen during his life, but there were some pieces that made absolutely no sense to him, which Nikai called 'abstract' (_an oil painting of a park shared wall space with a canvas full of random watercolor brushstrokes_). The most unusual pieces were the filing cabinets and tables and other pieces of furniture that Nikai would occasionally bring in to paint, or that customers would bring him to paint. He still couldn't believe that people were willing to pay 23,000 yen just to have their wine glasses painted with tree branches.

And, of course, the fact that Nikai painted everything _in the store_ was more than a little odd to him. There was a corner behind the counter where Nikai did all his painting. It was, by far, the messiest part of the store.

And then there was Nikai himself. If people thought _Hikaru's_ hair was outrageous, he could only imagine the responses Nikai got. When he had first started working, Nikai's hair had been platinum blonde with little streaks of blue and green. Now it looked like the unholy cross of the red, orange, and yellow color spectrums. He was tattooed, too, and pierced, and he kinda looked like a girl at first glance. If Hikaru's mom knew that his boss looked a bit like an artistic, androgynous yakuza member, she would probably demand that he quit right then and there.

Still, he mused, all those things were nothing compared to what he was seeing now.

His boss walked into the store, lugging an old goban and looking faintly ill, while a crying man (_woman?_) in Heian dress followed after him.

"You okay?" he called, to either one of them. They both looked like they needed some help.

"No," Nikai said shortly, dropping the goban roughly onto the counter. "I will never talk to my antiques again," he added, somewhat viciously.

"Oh," Hikaru said, nodding along like that explained everything. He jerked his chin at the stranger. "What about him?"

* * *

**That seems like a great place to end it. 23,000 yen is close to 200 U.S. dollars.**

**Reviews?**


	3. Mass Hysteria

**I think this is my favorite story to write thus far. I really frickin' love Hikaru and Sai.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hikaru no Go.**

* * *

Nikai's head whipped around to face him so fast that Hikaru was amazed he didn't break something. He looked outraged to the point of violence.

"You _see _him?!" he demanded, flinging out an arm to point at the stranger, who had stopped crying to stare at him in hopeful amazement. Without waiting for an answer, Nikai burst out. "What the _hell_? Have you been _lying _to me?!"

Hikaru had his hands in the air and was backing up by the time he realized his boss wasn't talking to him. "No," the other man cried, waving his arms like a toddler. "I never lied! I don't know why he can see me! Nikai!"

Hikaru was beginning to feel a little bad for the taller man. He didn't know what the hell they were going on about, but the glare his boss was levelling at the dude seemed to promise evisceration. He couldn't help but sympathize. God knew that Hikaru would probably wet himself if Nikai glared at _him_ like-

He gulped when his boss swung around to stare at him. "Um, I can give you guys a minute alone...?" he trailed off uncertainly.

"NO!" Nikai lunged over the counter to grab the collar of Hikaru's gaudy orange T-shirt, yanking him forward. Hikaru yelped, about ready to panic. What was going on? His boss was turning into a violent maniac! "Do _not_ leave me alone with him! Sai!" he barked, addressing the crybaby. "Follow Hikaru around instead of me!"

The crybaby-Sai-looked positively heartbroken, and Hikaru struggled to free himself. "I don't want your weirdo stalker! Where'd you even pick up a guy like that, anyway?!"

"He's _haunting _me," Nikai muttered, "or he _was._ He can haunt you now. Give _you _migraines with his emotional whiplash."

"That is not how it works!" Sai cried out. He was sobbing in earnest as Hikaru finally twisted himself free, backing out of his boss's reach. "We are not bonded like you and I are! I do not know why he can see me, but that's all he can do! _You're_ the one I'm bound to, Nikai! He cannot sense me like you can!"

Nikai paled dramatically, and gripped on to the counter as though he were about to sway. "Stop it, Sai," he said, with some difficulty, leaning over slightly to press a hand to his stomach. "You're making me sick...I'm gonna lose it if you don't stop..."

"I can't help it!" Sai sobbed, scrubbing his eyes with his sleeves.

Hikaru was just moving forward to help his boss sit down when Nikai did as promised...and vomited all over the tile floor.

* * *

Sai needed to stop crying. He _knew_ that he was hurting Nikai and he needed to stop, but knowing and doing were two completely different things.

The boy whose name Sai did not know hurried forward with a grimace, skirting the pool of vomit to grasp Nikai's shoulders and lead Sai's host to a tall stool behind the counter. Nikai was pale, and shaking, and still retching uselessly, and Sai just _couldn't stop crying!_

Nikai had rejected him. Nikai had told him to follow this other boy, as though Sai could (or would) abandon Nikai in favor of him. It was bad enough hearing that he would probably be unable to play Go, but to hear this as well was almost more than Sai could bear. The crushing regrets of a past lifetime crashed through his system, flashing down the link to Nikai, who shuddered, tears leaking from his tightly closed eyes. The guilt only made him cry harder, if possible...

"_**STOP IT!**_"

Sai's crying cut off with a hiccup, too startled to continue. The younger boy was standing beside Nikai, eyes blazing, fists clenched. "_I don't understand what's happening here, but you need to get ahold of yourself!_" the boy nearly shrieked. Sai stared at him as his chest heaved for breath, and Nikai gave a long, shuddering sigh of relief as the emotional onslaught eased.

"Calm down, Hikaru," his host muttered, using his fingertips to brush the tears off his too-pale cheeks. "You're gonna give yourself a stroke."

Hikaru's green eyes bulged comically. "I thought _you_ were having a stroke!" he shouted. "What the hell was that all about?!"

Sai lowered his eyes guiltily as the older boy stood. "That," Nikai said, voice a bit rough, "was uncontrolled chaos." He turned to Sai. "You alright now?"

"I'm sorry," Sai murmured, still hiccuping slightly. "I lost control of myself, Nikai."

Nikai reached under the counter and pulled out a container holding white powder. He carefully sprinkled the powder over his vomit, and Sai noticed that a bit of the smell died down immediately. "We're gonna have to work on that," was all he said.

* * *

A short while later, Nikai was seated at the easel where he did his painting, listening as Sai the Ghost explained about his life in the Heian court. Hikaru had taken a seat behind the cash register, listening intently with his chin in one hand.

"So," his assistant said, "basically, you were a Go tutor who killed himself because you got thrown out of the capital? And now you just, what, hang around waiting for someone to call you out of the goban?"

Sai nodded, a faint flush on his porcelain cheeks. "Nikai is only the second person who has ever been able to see me," he added, throwing a glance at him. "And you are the third."

Nikai fingered the handle of a dirty paintbrush thoughtfully. "And why can Hikaru see you?"

"...I do not know," Sai admitted, ducking his head. "But I do know that he and I aren't bound together. When I was...crying, he didn't have the same reaction you did, and I cannot feel anything from him at all."

Nikai grinned and slanted a look at his assistant. "You're dense, Hikaru," he teased, "that's why you can't sense Sai."

The half-blonde stuck his tongue out him. "Shut up," he groused. He laced his fingers behind his head. "So, on the down side, we have Sai, an overemotional Heian-era ghost, following Nikai, who's hyper-sensitive, or something like that."

Nikai nodded solemnly. "Thank you for summing that up, Hikaru, I just don't know how I would figure these things out without you here."

Hikaru scowled. "Shaddup. You didn't let me finish. On the bright side," he paused significantly, "I have a solution to your Go-playing dilemma."

It was funny how quickly Sai perked up when Hikaru said that. And completely irritating that Sai's hope was giving him butterflies. "I am _not_ learning Go," he reiterated.

Hikaru shrugged. "Well, you don't have to. I play Go, and I know a couple of insei who play on the Internet sometimes. I'm not really close to them, so I don't know their handles or anything, but..."

"You play Go?!" Sai gasped, at the same time that Nikai snapped, "What the hell is an insei?"

Hikaru threw him a superior look. "An insei, you uncultured swine," he said snobbishly, "is a young teenager who is hoping to become a professional Go player. They take classes at the Japanese Go Association. I'm working here to save up the money to enter the program."

Nikai gazed at him, feeling slightly surprised (_and intensely joyful, but he was pretty sure that wasn't him_). Hikaru played Go, an apparently intense game that required years and a lot of dedication to master. Hikaru liked Go so much that he wanted to join a program that basically funneled children into professional Go careers. Hikaru had hidden depth.

"Why didn't you just ask your parents?" he inquired.

"I did," Hikaru said, making a face. "They don't think that Go is a lucrative career choice, and that this is just me being irresponsible. My grandpa would have payed for me, but he doesn't really have that kind of money to throw around." He shrugged. "So, I came to work for you, Nikai."

Raising an eyebrow, Nikai declared, "How responsible of you, Hikaru. I almost didn't recognize you for a minute."

"Um," Sai interrupted, with a hopeful joy that fluttered in Nikai's chest, "does this mean we can play Go?" His eyes were hopeful pools of liquid amethyst, and Nikai abruptly realized that the ghost he was stuck with had the best pair of puppy-dog eyes that he had ever seen. Even Hikaru couldn't resist their deadly sway.

"Sure," he agreed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Sai cheered, throwing his arms around Nikai's neck in a fit of intense, childish joy. He seemed a bit leery of touching Hikaru himself, and had even skirted around Hikaru while they had been cleaning up Nikai's...mess. Nikai had no idea why that may be, though. After all, he thought half-heartedly trying to shake himself loose, Hikaru gave out much friendlier vibes than he did.

"I am very grateful, Hikaru-kun," Sai chirped, squeezing Nikai even tighter. "And thank you, too, Nikai," he added, a bit shyly, "for bringing me here."

Nikai would forever and always blame the sensation of a stomach full of sunlight on Sai, no matter what the spirit said to the contrary.

* * *

**So, this is, like, the third chapter in three days, so I feel the need to warn you that my updates are not always this fast. I'm just REALLY into this story right now.**

**Reviews?**


	4. NetGo

**Another chapter down. Wow, this is my newest story, and it may actually have more chapters than my other stories by the time I finally calm down a bit.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hikaru no Go.**

* * *

"People actually _play_ this?"

Hikaru smiled at his boss's skeptical expression. It was the day after Nikai had brought the haunted goban to the store, and he was currently standing behind Hikaru as he explained the concept of NetGo to Sai. The spirit's ever-mounting excitement was giving his boss goosebumps, much to the other man's annoyance.

"That's what I thought, too, when I first started," Hikaru assured him. "It's actually a lot more fun than it seems."

Nikai graced him with a doubtful look. "How did you even get interested in Go?" he asked. "No offense, but moving a bunch of black and white stones on a board doesn't seem all that exciting."

Hikaru laughed sheepishly, rubbing at the back of his head. "I was actually...forced to learn, really," he admitted. Nikai's raised an eyebrow at him. "You see, my parents cut my allowance 'cause I got 8% on a social studies test. My grampa kept a lot of old things in his shed-you know, antiques and stuff like that-so I thought I'd just find something to pawn off so I could go to the arcade. I wound up selling this old goban that he was _really_ attached to. When he found out, he tried to track it down, but the shop had already sold it...so he kicked my ass and forced me to learn Go."

"Wait," Nikai interrupted, holding up a hand. "The punishment for stealing your grandfather's goban was learning how to play Go?" When Hikaru nodded, his boss looked stunned. "How is that even a punishment? It's a game! A really, really boring game, but a game nonetheless!"

Hikaru shrugged. "He did spank me with a belt, before," he pointed out. "He said that I didn't have any appreciation for the game, or something like that, and that I needed to learn. I don't really get his reasoning, but I really do enjoy Go now."

"As you should, Hikaru," Sai interrupted approvingly. He was still bent over the computer, eyes locked on to the on-screen grid, waiting for someone to challenge him to a match. "Go is a marvellous game."

His boss rolled his eyes sharply.

* * *

With every passing moment, Nikai was becoming more and more certain that he was surrounded by crazy people.

Sai the Ghost was already crazy, just by virtue of the fact that he was a ghost. The way he'd died was even crazier; seriously, who killed themselves over a game? He'd always known that ancient values were a bit skewed (why else would pharoahs spend twenty years building themselves a tomb _while they were still alive_), but that was just a tad bit ridiculous. Not that Nikai had any plans to tell Sai that. He was emotional enough without Nikai mocking his death.

Hikaru was turning out even crazier than Nikai had initially thought. When Nikai had hired him, he'd nonchalantly told him that he needed a job because his parents sucked. The only reason he'd even gotten the job was because he'd said he could work every single day after school for as long as Nikai wanted him to. That, and that the only other applicant had had that twitchy-eyed look that Nikai had come to associate with frequent drug use. To know that Hikaru had asked for the job to finance what he hoped to be a very lucrative Go-playing career was, quite frankly, a little mind-blowing.

Nikai shook his head with a sigh. Sai's happiness (_for which he had sacrificed his laptop, damn it_) was making him a bit restless (_he was not giddy_), and he couldn't leave to browse the shops because he and Hikaru were both busy accepting a challenge from some dude called _zelda_. Migrating over to his easel, Nikai picked up a paintbrush, gazed at it consideringly, and then put it down with a frown and reached for his sketch book.

Maybe drawing would calm him down a little.

* * *

Sai won his first match in fifteen minutes, and couldn't quite keep the satisfied smile off his face.

His opponent, _zelda_, had been fairly strong, but not strong enough. He'd only had to play shidou-go with him, but Sai wasn't disappointed. It had been his first match in a hundred years, and it brought him much happiness.

"Wow," Hikaru commented, already searching for a new opponent. "You're pretty good, Sai."

"Thank you, Hikaru-kun," he said cheerfully. He raised his head, glancing about for Nikai. The flame-haired youth was bent over a large pad of paper, and was making quick, long marks on it. Sai couldn't quite see what his host was doing, but he was frowning in concentration, so Sai decided to leave him be. He didn't want to become an unwelcome distraction, so he turned back to Hikaru and asked, "Who shall we play next?"

"Who will _you_ play, you mean? I'm just your human mousepad," the child pointed out dryly. Sai was about to protest when Hikaru continued, "The _zelda_ person is asking for a rematch, but you've also got a challenge from someone else." He looked at Sai expectantly.

"The new opponent, please, Hikaru," he said, nodding decisively.

It continued on like that-Hikaru moving Sai's stones as player after player admitted defeat-for just over two hours, at which time Nikai wandered over and none-too-gently smacked Hikaru in the back of his head.

"What was that for?" the boy cried, clamping a hand to his injury.

Nikai squinted at him. "It's seven-thirty," he said, a hint of exasperation in his voice. "Time to go home, dude."

"Oh," Hikaru mumbled, reluctantly closing the lid of the 'laptop'. "Time flies when you're having fun, huh?"

Sai nodded vigorously, bouncing up to his host to throw his arms around him. "I have defeated seven opponents today, Nikai," he sighed happily, leaning his cheek against that bright hair and holding on tightly, even when his host tried to shake him off. "I feel that I have learned so much in such a short time."

Nikai rolled his eyes and jabbed Sai with his elbow while Hikaru grinned at them. The younger boy grabbed his backpack from under the counter and called out a cheerful "See you tomorrow!" as he left. Nikai shuffled forward, Sai still hanging around his neck, to flip the sign on the glass door to read 'Closed'.

"What were you doing while Hikaru and I played?" the spirit inquired. He was bound and determined to build up a friendship with his slightly surly host.

"Well, I sold two paintings," he said, and Sai started with surprise. "You two were too preoccupied to notice. I sketched a bit, too." He shrugged. "Nothing interesting."

"You are very talented, Nikai," Sai murmured, releasing his host from his hold as he began closing his shop. "Your paintings are all very bright."

Perhaps, Sai mused as his host shot him a smile, that was because Nikai himself was also very bright.

* * *

**Seriously, I think I'm going crazy. FOUR chapters already? Ridiculous. Next chapter, we see Hikaru interact with someone other than Nikai and Sai.**

**Reviews?**


	5. Blood in the Water

**So, Hikaru gets to meet up with people this chapter. Excited?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hikaru no Go.**

* * *

It was a week after Sai appeared that Hikaru very first realized that something Very Bad was happening.

Now, some might call Hikaru oblivious (and he certainly wasn't denying anything), but there were some things that Go players just _knew_ about other Go players. Namely, the fact that they were all crazy, determined, and slightly obsessive. He _knew_ this. Once a professional Go player got wind of an exciting new talent or prospective player, it was like blood in the water. They fuckin' _swarmed_.

So, when Hikaru heard some insei he vaguely recognized from his infrequent visits to the Japanese Go Association talking (_loudly_) about some anonymous player named _sai_ who was taking the NetGo world by storm, he immediately knew that nothing good could come of it.

Hikaru was waiting by the Go Association's front desk for Touya. They'd met a few years ago, and Hikaru had immediately latched on to the other boy, claiming that it was his duty as Touya's friend to get him to loosen up. Touya had been suitably startled, and had tried very politely to avoid him-until he realized that Hikaru knew how to play Go. Their beautiful friendship began with Touya asking him to his father's Go salon, and was cemented with a celebratory ramen run afterwards. Touya had taken the pro exam last year, and he was pretty busy with his official matches, but Hikaru always showed up at least twice a week to drag Touya off to do something entirely unrelated to Go.

He was in his usual spot, leaning against the help desk, when he heard the insei talking.

"I'm telling you, Isumi, this guy was really strong," the shorter boy insisted. "He crushed me like it was nothing."

The taller boy (_Isumi, apparentally_) sighed a little. "I'm sure it was just one of the pros, Waya," he murmured, paying more attention to the book of what looked like kifu in his hand.

Waya clenched his jaw. "No, it wasn't anyone here, I've never seen any kifu that looked remotely like the way this guy played. His joseki was really _old_, for some reason. I don't know how to describe it." He waited a moment, apparently waiting for Isumi to chime in, but the taller boy just hummed. "He's undefeated on NetGo, and he never plays anyone more than once. I've challenged him to, like, fourteen rematches, but he keeps ignoring me!"

Hikaru narrowed his eyes. Sai had been getting a lot of challenges from one particular player lately..._zelda_, was it? So, did that mean Waya was _zelda_? And if he was _zelda_, did that mean other insei played NetGo, too? Other professionals, even? And how would they be able to tell the difference? Who's to say that Sai hadn't already played with professionals, professionals who had a reputation for being obsessively interested in new talent? If he had, they would probably be really interested in who _sai_ really was. And if anyone found out, they'd probably try to drag him into the professional world, whether he wanted to go or not.

...Nikai was going to _kill_ him when he found out.

* * *

It was Hikaru's day off.

Now, normally, this one day of the week was the day that Nikai really, _really_ looked forward to. Don't get him wrong, he liked Hikaru well enough, but there was something to be said for not having the half-blonde chattering in his ear the entire time he worked. Lately, he hadn't even been working, just playing NetGo with Sai the Ghost (which Nikai could admit to being extremely grateful for; it kept them both quietly occupied and kept him from having to play for the spirit).

Which led him to his current dilemma.

With Hikaru gone, there was nothing to occupy Sai. The ghost had been hanging around Nikai's shoulders all morning, sighing with a melancholy that Nikai _knew_ wasn't genuine. Because of their connection, it came across as more annoying than guilt-inducing. And yet, somehow, it remained just as effective.

Sai's NetGo account proudly proclaimed that the ghost was on a 35 match winning streak, and Nikai couldn't help but be reluctanly impressed. He supposed he should have seen it coming; after all, Sai was so (_ridiculously_) passionate about the game that he'd killed himself over it. It made sense for him to be good at it.

Of course, he thought grumpily as he placed the dots (_stones_, Sai reprimanded), that didn't make it any more interesting for Nikai himself. Go was a game far and away from his understanding, and the random formations made absolutely no sense to him. He couldn't even tell if Sai was winning, though he thought he might be, just from the fact that there were a lot more of Sai's dots than the other player's. Still, the game was pretty boring. During every board game he'd played with his family (back when he was sixteen, before everything went to shit), there'd been a lot of taunting between the players, but nobody spoke during Go. It was a respectful game, Sai told him; which basically translated to silent and uninteresting.

Sai's running commentary wasn't helping, either. The ghost kept pointing out his opponent's moves to Nikai, occasionally asking him where _he_ thought Sai's dots should go. It was irritating, but Nikai humored him, studying the board for fifteen minutes (_he deserved to wait for putting him through this_), and then casually pointing out a spot where bunch of Sai's dots had the opportunity to surround one of the other guy's dots. It was something he'd seen Sai do when he played with Hikaru, and the spirit had beamed with delirious happiness and asked him to put the dot there.

It continued on in this vein for about an hour, when Hikaru suddenly showed up with a friend.

The half-blonde looked a little nervous, and was overcompensating by smiling a lot and laughing. He told Nikai that he'd brought his friend (_he introduced him as Akira, but called him Touya_) to see the store, because the other boy needed to loosen up. The other boy (who looked, admittedly, like a shy private school kid) took offense to that, but Hikaru just rolled his eyes dramatically and told him to stop lecturing, _geez, Touya, you're already enough of an old man_. It was about ready to devolve into a shouting match when Hikaru realized that Nikai was on the laptop with Sai, at which point he went pale and asked if he could talk to his boss about his schedule.

He had a feeling that the only reason he used that excuse was because the schedule was in an entirely different room.

He agreed, though, standing up and leaving the laptop behind, while Sai moaned about how rude it was to leave a match in the middle of the game without even warning your opponent, but Nikai ignored him. Chances were, the guy would get bored and resign; _he_ certainly wasn't going to ruin the ghost's winning streak just to chat with his employee.

"We've got a huge problem," Hikaru exclaimed as soon as the door shut behind him. Akira was carefully inspecting the paintings on the walls, ears still a little red from Hikaru's teasing. "Okay, so I was at the Go Association today to pick up Akira, and I heard some of these insei talking about _sai_, like his games on NetGo and everything. Apparently, people are getting really interested in who _sai_ is, and professional Go players are like pirhana, so I think it would be best if we layed off the Internet for a while."

He said it all in one big breath, and it took Nikai and Sai a minute to understand what he was talking about. When Sai's eyes filled with horror at the thought of having to give up NetGo, Nikai immediately pointed a finger at the ghost and said, in his sternest voice, "Do _not_ panic."

All that really accomplished was to make Sai's eyes fill with tears, so he quickly switched tracks.

"I'm not gonna make you give up NetGo, Sai, that would be bad for your health _and _mine." The ghost blinked uncomprehendingly for a few moments, and Nikai huffed; he wasn't _always_ a bastard. He turned to Hikaru. "Explain the pirhana comparison."

"They swarm new talent!" Hikaru exploded, as though that explained everything. "If they find out about NetGo's _sai_, they're gonna go crazy trying to find you! Go players are insane!"

Nikai couldn't help the dry, "I am fully aware of this," that slipped out of his mouth. "In any case," he plowed on, ignoring indignant protests from both his pests, "they really have no way of finding Sai, no matter how badly they may want to. And I'm not entirely sure that they would even _be_ interested. Not to mention the fact that Sai's _invisible_."

Hikaru crossed his arms over his chest and sighed angrily through his nose. "If they try and find Sai," he said slowly, as though explaining to a toddler, "and they find you instead, they'll assume that you're Sai, and they will drag you into the professional Go world kicking and screaming, where they will likely devour your carcass."

Nikai rolled his eyes. "Cute," he muttered, jerking the door open.

"I am _serious_!" Hikaru exclaimed behind him.

* * *

Sai covered his mouth with his sleeve to hide his smile from Hikaru.

The younger boy was quite hilarious when he was worried, especially when he was worried about Nikai. In the scarce week that Sai had known his host, he'd come to the realization that Nikai was quite adept at taking care of himself. He'd been told that people rarely had servants in the modern world, instead doing almost everything themselves, or with the help of their family. He didn't know where Nikai's family was, or even if he had any; but if he did, they certainly weren't helping him. Not that Sai could see, at least. He'd tried to bring up that line of questioning before, but Nikai always changed the subject when it came up. Sai could admit to being easily distracted, and he couldn't help but lose his train of thought when Nikai suddenly began to show him certain marvels. Like toasters. Or televisions. Or why some people in the modern world dressed so indecently (Sai had been scandalized the first time he saw a girl with a short skirt on).

He had a feeling that Nikai was avoiding the subject because he was uncomfortable with it, but he was certain he would find out eventually. They had the rest of Nikai's life together, after all.

Still, it was strange and a little comforting to see someone other than himself show concern for his host, even if he didn't really think that it was warranted. Nikai wasn't worried at all as being confused for Sai, so Sai wouldn't concern himself with it either. He wasn't going to jeopardize his only opportunity to play Go (though he was truly eager to teach his host).

He'd been so proud when Nikai had pointed out the move that would capture one of white's stones. He hadn't thought the boy had been paying attention at all when he and Hikaru played. It wasn't a very impressive move, but for Nikai to have made the effort at all filled Sai with happiness.

There may just be hope for Nikai after all.

* * *

**Slightly longer chapter this time, and Nikai doesn't yet realize how truly insane most Go players are. Ah, well.**

**Reviews?**


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